Kalm's account of his visit to England : on his way to America in 1748 / translated by Joseph Lucas ; with two maps and several illustrations.

  • Pehr Kalm
Date:
1892
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Kalm's account of his visit to England : on his way to America in 1748 / translated by Joseph Lucas ; with two maps and several illustrations. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    242/520 page 212
    I have asked several old farmers and labourers why they do not use lathes, lador, here to keep the hay in ? They have answered that they considered haystacks, when they are well thatched with straw far better than lathes (haysheds). The reason they gave was that when the hay is laid in lathes, the part of it which lies nearest to the walls, 6 inches or a foot from the wall commonly becomes spoilt, musty and mouldy, skämt, unkigt och mögligt, loses its beautiful scent, so that the cattle will not eat it at all willingly, but on the other hand in the stack it retains its sweet and fragrant scent, is eaten by the cattle very greedily, and it is only the outer surface of the uncovered part which takes a little harm from rain, but is for all that not so bad as that which is laid next the wall in the lathe. All the hay, which was set in stacks in the parts [T. I. p. 214] of England where I travelled, is not taken out of the stack in the same manner as is usual with us in Sweden, viz.: that one tears off the highest first and so continues downwards, but all this hay is cut out of the stack with a ‘ hay knife ’ specially made for the purpose, which is done in this way: When they require any hay out of the stack for the cattle, they beginto cut at one of the gable ends of the stack first, that is to say, they begin at the highest ridge or top to cut loose slices, flingor, of about 2 feet broad or more, just as they please. Thus it is continued with the cutting, across the whole gable end from above downwards, as it is required. On this cutting, skärning, it was noted, that it is not cut perpendicularly down, but the lower one gets, so much the more it is cut sloping into the stack, so that the upper part of the stack where one is cutting overhangs the under, that the hay in the stack may not take any harm from wet. In this way the stack is cut to pieces until there is hardly any more hay left.
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